Kamp Westerbork memorial center can prepare for the start of the renovation of the camp site last year. In the Spring Memorandum, the previous cabinet took 15 million euros for the renovation and the House of Representatives now agrees.
“With this, the House of Representatives gives the recognition of the social importance of the Kamp Westerbork memorial center and the role that we have to pass on the memory of the Holocaust and the layered history of this place to future generations,” says director Bertien Minco. The entire renovation requires 50 million euros from the government, plus investments from others. “We hope to get clarity about further financing soon.”
Under the current circumstances, Remembrance Center has had to refuse school classes due to a lack of space. “While it is crucial in times of war that a place like camp Westerbork is accessible to everyone,” says Minco.
With the 15 million that has been promised, Kamp Westerbork can be overhauled from next year. Work is being done on a whole new concept for the camp site, the commander’s home and the museum. The connecting road, where the railway line ran, will be arranged between the museum and the camp site as a monumental memorial.
In addition, the Remembrance Center will make the full occupation history of the camp visible. In World War II, 107,000 Jews, Sinti and Roma were deported to extermination camps. It was also the ‘temporary’ place of residence for Moluccans in Woonoord Schattenberg for the twenty years, as Kamp Westerbork was called after the war.
Following the municipalities of Assen, Emmen. Meppel and Midden-Drenthe has also bought Tynaarlo tickets, so that residents can visit the memory center for free. A total of 2,500 tickets are available, giving the remembrance center a large sum of money from Tynaarlo. “We think it is important that everyone gets the chance to visit this historical place. It is a place that touches and makes thinking,” said Alderman Hans Kuipers (GroenLinks).